Roll holder



March 6,1945. I NFO D 2,371,109

ROLL HOLDER Filed Sept. 12, 1941 Patented Mar. 6, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ROLL HOLDER Roy S. Sanford, Oakville, Conn., assignor to The Autoyre Company, Incorporated, Oakville, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application September 12 1941, Serial No. 410,537

3 Claims.

This invention relates toia roll holderand more particularly to a holder adapted to support rolls of toilet tissue or the usual paper towel rolls.

pintle having an annular flange to friction-allyv engage the end of a paper roll adjacent the cardboard tube on which the paper is usually wound.

The embodiment illustrated and described.

herein comprises a structure peculiarly adapted for economical quantity production and consists of a minimum number of interchangeable parts which may easily'and cheaply be spot-welded together to form roll holders of any required length to conform with the length of rolls to be used therewith.

The invention comprises a base plate preferably formed of very thin strap-like sheet metal such as cold rolled steel and having shallow longitudinal reinforcing ribs terminating short of the ends of the base. The bases may be made of various lengths and are interchangeable during assembly so that a minimum number of basic elements are required to produce roll holders of any desired length to conform with the requirements of the paper rolls to be supported thereby.

L-shaped sheet metal brackets are formed of resilient sheet metal and are all identical in structure and are interchangeable for mounting on either end of a base plate of any length. A short arm of the bracketis adapted to be spot-Welded to the outer surface of the base plate closely adjacent the end thereof and is provided with a central screw hole registering with a corresponding screw hole through the base plate. The spot welding is preferably accomplished on opposite sides of and substantially in transverse alignment with the screw hole-and the bracket may be slightly ribbed or deformed around the screw hole and transversely of the bracket arm to provide a more rigid reinforcement adjacent the screw and a countersink for the screw head. This construction provides a very rigid mounting portion at each end of the base plate and enables the use of very thin resilient material in the entire construction.

The outstanding bracket arms are sufficiently resilient to retain the roll in frictional engage'-,

ment therebetween, and at the same time, when the holder is secured to a wall, the more rigid mounting portions to hold the base plate in substantially rigid alignment against the wall and with the outwardly extending arms provide sufficient resilience to snugly retain the roll and enable easy entrance and removal of any paper roll corresponding to the length of the holder used.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a roll holder of the character described having a minimum number of interchangeable thin sheet metal elements which elements. may be made cheaply in quantity production by a minimum number of punching or stamping operations and may readily be assembled by a minimum number of'simple welding operations.

A further object is the provision of a roll holder which may be formed entirely of thin, flexible, strap-like sheet metal and in which the relationship ot the assembled parts and the manner of their assembly provide a structurein which the flexible base plate and the bases of the brackets will be held substantially rigid after the device is secured to awall and the outstanding portions of the brackets provide suflicient resilience to permit easy insertion and removal of the roll and sufficient friction against the ends of the roll to retard free movement thereof.

A further object is to provide a roll holder of v the'character described which will be cheap to manufacture, easy to install, and which will not easily get out of order.

Further objects will be apparent from the specification and the appended claims.

In the drawing:

' Fig. l is a perspective view of one 0i the assembled roll holders and illustrates one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a top view of the, embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1 secured to a wall. Fig. 4 is a top view of the holder similar to rat shown in Fig. 3, but with the arms in the position which they assume after a roll has been inserted therebetween, as indicated by the dotted lines.

Fig. 8 is an expanded view of one end of a base plate and one of the roll supporting brackets before they are spot-welded together, the base plate being of any required length for interchangeable assembly with any two interchangeable brackets.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the embodiment illustrated comprises a base plate I preferably formed of thin, somewhatresilient or flexible material, such, for instance, as cold rolled steel. This base plate is preferably reinforced with shallow longitudinal ribs 2 formed therein. The ribs are pressed outwardly from the base and terminate short of the ends thereof to enable suitable brackets to be spot-welded to the outer surface of the flat end portions of the base. B'a'se plates of this type may easily be manufactured in various lengths to conform to the lengths "of I The'bracket is formed to provide arelatively large I arcuate outstanding transverse rib 6 adjacent the intersection ofthe arms andthis large rib is provided with shallow strengthening ribs 1 formed therein to secure'greater rigidity at'theintersection of the'arms.

The outerend of the armi is formed-to provide an inturned substantially cylindrical boss or pin- -tle-8 of sufficient diameter to provide abearingfor the usual paper roll, 'and-an'annular flange :9 is

formed at the base-of the boss-8 toprovide-friction againstthe-end of theroll. The outer edge of the boss 8 is provided with an inclined surface 8a to enable easy insertionof the roll.

The outstanding arm-5ispreferably slightly'ta- 'pered from the base toward the roll holding .end

so as to more effectively=distribute the-resilience of the arm. 'Eachend'of the baseis provided with a central screw hole Illa. and-each bracket is pr-ovided with a corresponding screw hole l-flb so that,

when the bracket is assembled on the base-and spot-welded thereto with the holesin alignment, as shown in Fig. 3, a single mounting screwihole I0 is thereby formed through-each end .of the base and through a respective bracket. The

bracket and base are preferably spot-Welded at points on opposite sides of the screw'hole [Hand in transverse alignment therewith substantially as shown at H in Fig. 8.

It will be apparent that the spot welded construction of the overlapping bracket and base, and the transverse arcuate and strengthened ribs 6 adjacent the intersection of the -bracket arms, provide a very rigid constru'ction'at'each end of each base where rigidty. is required, and thisrigid construction preventsjundfue 'flexingfo'f the base or any other part of thestructureafter -the device'has been rigidly secured to'the wall b'y'means of screws I2.

The invention provides many advantages in that the brackets are interchangeable with each other and with base'plates-of various lengths; The 'entire'structure maybe made of verythin,

flexible, strap-like material, and the overlapping .and reinforced end structure enables the use of such material by providing rigid mounting. portions which prevent undue flexing after the device is installed.

It is intended, of course, that the invention should not be limited to the specific embodiment or embodiments disclosed herein, since modifications may be made, and it is contemplated, therefore, by the appended claims to cover any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.

Having thus described this invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A roll holder made entirely of thin flexible and resilient sheet metal stampings comprising an elongated substantially fiat strap-like base of a width slightly greater than the diameter of the axial hole in a paper roll to be supported by said holder, 'apair of oppositely disposed interchange- :able' angle brackets each having a short armand an outstanding roll engagingarm, said roll engaging arms being flexible with respect to their respective short arms, said short arm overlapping said base adjacent an end thereof and welded :theretoso-asto provide a rigid wall attaching portion adjacent each endof .saidholder, each .of said wall attaching portions being adapted to be held .flat against a wall and being provided with a screwshole for receiving an attachingscrew, and each outstanding bracketarm having an inwardly extending cup-like pintle formed therein to form a running .fitin the hole in said paper roll, said pin'tle having a peripheral flange for frictionallyengaging 'the' end of said roll.

:2. In 'a paper roll holder, a substantially L- :shaped roll holding bracket,said bracket being integrally formed of thin resilient strap-like sheet metal-and comprising a short arm adapted to be uigidly spot-welded-adjacent one end of a flexible sheet metal base, and a materially longer outwardly extending .arm having a central inturned bossadjacent itsouter'end to-engage in the axial openingof a paper roll, said bracket being formed with a transverse outstanding rib tangent with 'said :short :arm and providing an arcuate inter- -section'of said arms, .saidribhaving smaller reinforcing ribs formed transversely thereof and'extending across the intersection of said arms.

3. A sheet .metal paper roll holder comprising .a substantially flat-elongated base plate having shallow longitudinal strengthening ribs pressed outwardly and terminating'short-of the ends of said plate, interchangeable L-shaped brackets, .each-havinga shortarm thereof welded to the outersurface'of said base on opposite sidesof a central screw hole .through said .base and bracket, saidbracket extendinglongitudinally bevyondtheendof said baseand havingan arcuate wardly.

ROY S. 'SANF'ORD. 

